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Reviews

Good print and slightly scratchy sound, but a very nice film and well worth watching.

Another of Cabanne's great, sentimental films reminiscent of Frank Capra.

Directed by Christie Cabanne, (April 16, 1888 – October 15, 1950) an American film director, screenwriter and silent film actor. Christy Cabanne was, along with Sam Newfield and William Beaudine, one of the most prolific directors in the history of American film.

Written by Olga Printzlau (13 December 1891 – 8 July 1962) an American screenwriter. She wrote for 69 films between 1915 and 1933. She also wrote a play, Window Panes, which was staged in Los Angeles in 1928, and won praise from the Los Angeles Times. Anytime I see a filmscript written by this brilliant, good hearted woman, I buy the film and have never been disappointed. She is definitely one of America’s greats. She was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and died in Hollywood, California from a heart attack.
~Partially from Wikipedia

Irish lad Shandy O’Hara, Jr. (Jackie Searle) is adopted by a Jewish antique dealer Sol Bloom (Jean Hersholt). A good man who practices what he has learned through his religious texts, Bloom is a friend of the Irish cop played by J. Farrell MacDonald who is killed when Bloom's shop is robbed. He must then break the news to the cop’s young son, who is then taken in by him. At first, Bloom's own son, Joey, wants nothing to do with his adopted brother and even steals from him, but Shandy refuses to snitch on him. Time goes on until Shandy must sell the harp his dead mother gave him in order to cover Joey’s misdemeanors and this brings things to an interesting and heart rending climax. The ending is a moral tale for all three people involved and is presented directly without maudlin emotions.

This is a rare example of a poverty row studio film (Majestic Pictures) that is surprisingly good. Some of the sequences appear to be actually on location in New York, with the photography seeming to be more real than stock footage used in similar films. Hersholt is really good, playing a man whom, like himself, was a great humanitarian and looked in men's souls, not their religious background. J. Farrell MacDonald is really good in the small role of Shandy’s dad, while Richard Wallace as Joey Bloom is a precursor to the Bowery Boys as Hersholt's son who will obviously head down a wrong path unless he realizes the error of his ways. Lucille La Verne is instantly recognizable as one of the locals.

If you like Capra, you will love this film. Thank you IA for preserving this. 5 Stars.